The ramblings of a pilgrim through time, space, and life.

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Musgrave

The past few weeks have held some very interesting walks of family history. The Sharp family has always been one of the most difficult lines. I will explain some of the reasons why later.

I have mentioned in past updates my interactions with Kent and Pat Nielsen of Provo, Utah. He contacted me for the first time several years ago. I found that he was a relative of mine. We share the common ancestors of Thomas and Elizabeth Cartwright Sharp. He was born in 1796

in Misson, Nottinghamshire in England. We don’t know exactly when he passed away, but his wife immigrated to the United States with her children. Sadly, she never made it all the way to the Utah Territory dying in St Louis in 1851.

We do not know with certainly what exactly the family’s plans were. William (1826-1900), my ancestor, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1848. His sister, Isabella (1831-1904) joined in 1849 and is Kent’s ancestor. None of his other siblings joined the church but yet they made their way to the United States. We assume they came for the LDS cause since they embarked upon a ship predominately LDS. They finally arrived in St. Louis despite some considerable difficulties at sea in Nov 1850.

They stayed there for a time. They held together as a family but the draw for William and Isabella to be gathered with the Saints must have been strong. They eventually set out for Utah leaving behind them their non-LDS family (Their mother died in Feb 1851). In 1853, Isabella and William set out for Utah with their new spouses. They arrived in September of that year. Joseph and Isabella Carlisle settled in Millcreek, Salt Lake County. William and Mary Ann headed to Lehi, Utah County. (I leave behind the Carlisle family due to the fact that they have several individuals working on that line including Leanne Maynes, who I come to find out later was working with Kent.)

Difficulties with the water, cattle, and neighbors prompted them to move elsewhere. During the evacuation of Salt Lake from threats of the United States Government, they learned of open, available spaces in Weber County to the north. They made provisions and picked a place moving there the next spring in Mar 1859. Their daughter, Evelyn, is claimed to be the first white girl born in Plain City.

This is where things get a bit more difficult. They lived there and were actively involved in the community. William’s skills as a mason became useful and were employed often in the community. The family was also actively involved with dramatics and music as well. Somewhere in this time, discord became apparent in the area. Somewhere from about 1870 to about 1879, William and Mary Ann (Bailey) Sharp were excommunicated from the church. It is also notable to show that they were not the only ones. A list of individuals was read at a meeting in 1879 announcing their excommunication. Several prominent names from Plain City are on the list, including; Skeen, Dix, Musgrave, Singleton, Noyes, and Davis. There are many speculations for the reasons of this excommunication, but nothing is known or documented for sure.

Since we don’t know the exact excommunication date, we do not know how this played into the divorce of William and Mary Ann in 1876. We do

know that there was a group of former Anglicans who asked for a congregation of the Episcopalian Church to be organized in Plain City. William Sharp built their church and school for that purpose.

He would later remarry and would die in Mount Fort (Ogden). Mary Ann we know a little less about, but she would pass away in Plain City in 1913. With that as a backdrop, we can focus on some more contemporary family. Anne Sharp would marry in the Endowment House of Salt Lake in 1872 to Daniel Claiborne Thomas. Their family would for the most part remain active in the LDS church until the present. The other three children, Milo Riley Sharp, Evelyn Carlisle Sharp, and Victorine Mary Sharp would all remain away from the church for their lives.

Evelyn would marry James Henry Taylor and we still know little of their family. They would make their way to Oregon and they are hard to follow with little more than census locations. Victorine Mary Sharp would marry Robert Edward Maw. The Maw name is well known in West Weber. We still know relatively little concerning her family.

Milo Riley Sharp would marry Mary Ann Stoker in 1879. She was the daughter of William Thomas Stoker and Emma Eames. Her father joined the

LDS Church in 1852 with two siblings joining in 1860 and 1863. Her mother passed away in 1863 and that same year her family immigrated to the United States. They moved directly to Plain City. Due to financial difficulties, each of the children were raised by separate families.

Mary Ann Stoker was raised by the George and Victoria Musgrave family. (Her father would go on to remarry and raise another family.) It was

during this time she took on the name of Lilly Musgrave Stoker (some records show her as Lillian).

Irene, Edith, Ethel, and Emily. George, Effie, and Emily all died young. Their 11th child, Ethel Sharp, is my great grandmother.

The Sharp family has been one of the most difficult lines to connect. Ethel died in 1925 after giving birth to her 4th child. John Ross and his parents were not able to take care of the 3 children so they were separated among Ethel’s siblings. I have written more about this family at this link: Ross-Sharp Wedding.

Grandpa, the son of Ethel, has very few memories of his parents. He grew up with the Ed Sharp family, and for numerous reasons has refused

to speak of them. So any continuation of family stories or history has for the most part not jumped that break.

It was with interest that last year in corresponding with Leanne Maynes (Joseph and Isabella Carlisle descendent) that I learned she had some

contact with Mrs. Brenda Pett and Mrs. Carilee Sleight. I found out they were descendents of Milo Ray (Milo Riley and Mary Ann’s oldest child). I contacted them and initiated conversation. The information, history, and photos they were able to provide gave a catalyst to opening up the Sharp history.

With enough information and history on the Sharp line, I began to feel the connection and felt to pursue the family. The family although raised non-LDS would have several lines who would go on to become LDS. Only two of the children would join the church in their lifetime, Mary Irene and Victorine. Although many more lines would open up to becoming reclaimed through a spouse. For the most part, some of the difficulty

in the Sharp family is still one of a house divided. That introduced some difficulty in reconnecting the family and bringing them together. So I will tell of my experience with a couple of the lines.

Brenda and Carilee are both from Milo Ray’s family. They are a granddaughter and great granddaughter of Milo Ray respectively. It has been interesting to get to know them. Brenda is in charge of one of the family history libraries and her mother’s 40 years of accruing family history documents and history has been a valuable resource. We hope to take this more available to the family and that it can be the means of tying the family together through documentation. I visited with Brenda for some time this past weekend in touching base and looking to the future.

William Edward, known as Ed, married an active LDS woman and all their children were raised LDS. This is the family my Grandfather was raised

with, and probably the most familiar of all the Sharp lines. My personal interaction with Josephine Sharp Costley and Dean Sharp have provided the more human face to this family. Even though Dean passed away just last month, it has been interesting to interact with these lines at my Grandparents 60th anniversary and at my Grandmother’s funeral. I have corresponded with Delores Bair who was married to Ed’s son, who we call Eddie. She provided a great deal of information on the Eddie Sharp and Ed Sharp family line. I continue to actively pursue this line with Josephine Sharp Costley and Lois Sharp.

I received a phone call from Grandpa sometime last year informing me that a woman, Ms. Lynne Riddle had been to visit him asking for family

history information. Lynne is a granddaughter of Edith Sharp Martin. I have been in contact, but she seems to have fallen off the planet. She

will not return phone calls and e-mails. She was very anxious in corresponding earlier on. However it seems she got what she wanted and does not want to share. For what reasons I do not know. I do sense it may have a question with the LDS issue after her apparent upset at my

Grandfather imposing his testimony upon her. I do hope we can break any barrier that may or may not be in place.

Last weekend I visited with Mae Richardson, the youngest daughter of Mary Irene Sharp Richardson. Mary Irene was the first to join the LDS

church of the siblings. She joined in 1931. Her family were all raised LDS, but seem to have had no contact with the rest of the Sharp family

after about 1970. I just started sending out letters to those who I thought may be family of the Richardson family. I received a letter back from Mae telling me she was related, and informed me who the Richardson “in house genealogist” was. In phoned Mae and had a great conversation with her for over an hour. I also phoned Karen Knudsen, who is her niece, the one who apparently keeps the family history information for the Richardson family. I look forward to her first e-mail and corresponding and bringing that family back in communication. The most impressive thing about Mae was her memory. For being in her 80’s, she could still remember all her siblings birthdates and even locations for weddings, children’s birth locations, and much, much more.

I also relocated a connection through the Victorine Sharp Hunt family. I met Archie Hunt several times. Most notably I remember him from my

Grandma’s and Uncle Harold’s funerals. Who can forget a man who has two prosthetic legs? One cannot but honor and reverence a man who still

farms under those circumstances. I look forward to visiting with Archie and reestablishing those links.

So, there is a great deal of work to do in relation to the Sharp family. There are many descendants that are yet unaccounted for. There are many

questions and holes just in dates and information on the current family. Then the fleshing out of stories and life histories yet to be found. It is good that I am not going about this alone.

Another year has passed. Has it really? It doesn’t feel like it. I don’t feel any older. I don’t think I look any older. What really happened in 2006? Did it really exist? I know it did. I have the memories of it and the evidence. (I won’t be like some nations claiming that you cannot prove the past, like the Holocaust).A former President has died ending the year. I remember meeting President Ford in Twin Falls, Idaho. I must have only been about 10 or
12 at the time. I guess he liked to golf once and a while at the course down in the canyon. (Sad, I don’t even remember the name of it. (Perhaps I am getting older….)

Who else died this year? I read a few of Milton Friedman’s books. I still sing to myself the music of Malcolm Arnold, especially River Kwai. I remember joking about what it must be like to be Robert C Baker, but now I would feel bad joking of chicken nuggets. Buck Owens who I saw in Branson passed away. We can’t forget political leaders like President Ford, Senator Stafford, or Congressman Sonny Montgomery. Ed Bradley who I liked to watch. 60 Minutes just won’t be the same anymore without Bradley and Wallace. Who were some not so notable, or infamous, Mr. Lay, Jeff Lundgren, Saddam. It has been a year for deaths! Oh, I about forgot Steve Irwin. It seemed every little kid in England talked of Steve.

A couple of family members have passed away. Ebertha Lutz of my Van Leeuwen line. Dean Sharp just passed away last week. His funeral is on Thursday up in Pasco, Washington. That doesn’t leave many of the Sharp family around either. I know Grandpa is struggling with his death. Dad, Jan, and Grandpa are going up to the funeral. I hope when my time comes, it will go as well. He wasn’t feeling well, and went to the hospital. His oxygen was low, so they put him on oxygen and he wanted to go home. He was resting and Lois heard him make a noise and saw his oxygen was off. She went over and he was gone. Quick, painless, and comfortable.

I only visited with Dean two weeks ago. I called him to ask him some family history questions about his parents and recollections of Mary Ann Stoker, aka Lillian Musgrave. He told me characteristics of his parents, Edward Sharp and Lillie East. He always had a cool little laugh when he finished speaking. Don’t know if it was a nervous laugh, something he picked up, but it always made me feel relaxed. He never
knew his grandmother, I had to get that information elsewhere. Good bye Dean.

I received an e-mail from a Terry McHugh in South Carolina. He was searching information on the Stoker line. I filled him on information I
had, and gleaned quite a bit from him. It was good to focus some more on the Stoker line. I still have yet to figure out why my Mary Ann
Stoker (married Sharp) went by Lily (Lillian) Musgrave for a spell.

I called Grandpa and he shared a few memories with me. He said she was fairly tall, I am not sure what that means. Grandpa is not necessarily tall. He used to walk past her house every day on the way to school. He would stop in on his way home when she was alive. It is the same house my Aunt Caroline lives in now.

She would have him put the hooks in the holes for her shoe laces. She also had him pull the strings on her girdle for her. He used to ask why
she needed the thing; after all she was so skinny. She would just sigh and ask him to pull them just a little tighter. It sounded like it was sweet memories. She had a horn for hearing. She went deafer over the years. Grandpa would ask why she needed that horn and she would say it was because he wasn’t speaking loud enough. It was interesting that June Streeter had memories of Lily, but didn’t know who she was. It wasn’t until a few months back talking with her daughter that I cleared that up in her mind.

Life changed considerably for Amanda and me this year. I again made a move across the country. One thing is for sure, get married and the
physical baggage multiplies! You would think that my trunk full of possessions would only double. Some reason or another, women are not
confined to a Spartan life. But add a marriage to it, and the making of a home, and things grow exponentially. There are ways I would like to
go more Spartan, but Amanda won’t have any of that. Probably a good thing.

Dad had his operation and seems to be back to normal. Indeed, he is better than he has been for the last five years. I am glad he has made
such a recovery, even improvement. Jan had her operation on her back. For some reason I cannot recall if that was earlier this year or not.
Yes, I think it was, pretty sure it was. She is doing much better. Her progress has not been as quick as Dad’s but she is doing better.

Overall it has been a good year. Even the few dreams I have had have all been good. There is one that repeated some over the year. Have yet no idea what it could possibly mean. I am back living at Kasota Road. But I have to go to the dentist. I go, and it is Garrison Keillor who
is the dentist. We end up chatting about a few things. By the time the appointment is done, he has split a tooth in half, and pulled it. Having removed a tooth, I am concerned and discuss my issues with him. He takes and makes me a new tooth and screws it back into the top of my mouth. I am shocked that I can notice no difference from the old to the new tooth. I am impressed there is no swelling and no pain. He doesn’t even use pain killers. It is his reasoning that makes things work so well despite my little idiosyncrasies. Perhaps it is just that I need
to reason and talk through more things in life. I almost laugh in the mornings when I realize I am dreaming of going to the dentist, spending
the conversation with Keillor, and then arise to find life is great. Perhaps it is just a happy dream. Don’t know why I find it so ironic that the dentist and Keillor make me happy, but I won’t complain. (Now people will think I am more off my rocker than ever!)

Well, I think I will sign off. I look forward to what 2007 has to bring. I am sure it will have many surprises and interesting things to mention. It will be the first year in a long time that I am planning, for the most part, of staying in the same state. Since graduation I have hopped between states every year.